MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin defended his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates for riding in the back last weekend at Talladega, saying if they got caught in a crash racing near the front “they would be the dumbest group in history.’’

Fans have criticized Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, for running in the back all race and finishing 28th, 29th and 30th, respectively. Each driver said they didn’t enjoy it, but that it was best to ensure they advanced to the Round of 8, which begins Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

“There’s no way those guys should have been up there helping me and risk putting themselves in danger and not making the Chase,’’ Hamlin said Friday.

Kenseth, Edwards and Busch didn’t need to run at the front because they had a large enough lead on those outside a transfer spot entering Talladega. When Chase contenders Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. both suffered engine failures, it allowed the Gibbs trio to continue to run at the back.

Hamlin, though, had to run at the front because he was outside the cutoff entering the race. He finished tied with Austin Dillon for the final transfer spot and got it based on a tiebreaker – Hamlin’s third-place finish at Talladega.

With all three Gibbs cars safe in the back, Hamlin’s run meant all four teams advanced in the Chase — the first time an organization has had four cars reach the Round of 8 since the elimination-style format debuted in 2014.

“I thought it was smart,’’ Hamlin said of the strategy used by his teammates at Talladega. “We all knew what they were going to do before the race started.

“They would be the dumbest group in history if they would have been in the middle of the pack and got wrecked at some point and didn’t have to be. It’s about championships. It’s not about winning Talladega by any means.’’

Hamlin said his teammates “earned the right” to employ such a strategy because they had strong finishes in the first two races of the round.

“Luckily it all worked out where we had all four (advance),’’ Hamlin said. “They played the strategy they had to play to get in, and I did the strategy I had to do to get in. Nobody from any other team would have done anything different that’s for sure. If they tell you different, that would be a lie.’’

Such a tactic likely won’t be used next year when Talladega and Kansas flip dates. Talladega will become the middle race in the Round of 12. Kansas will be the cutoff race for that round.

“I think next year, with the races being switched around, you’ll see less of that because people won’t know where they stand,’’ Hamlin said. “I think it kind of fixes itself next year most likely.’’

StarCom Racing and Jeffrey Earnhardt have parted ways, the team announced after Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway.

Earnhardt drove for the team in the season’s first five races. He finished 36th, 11 laps behind winner Martin Truex Jr. on Sunday. Earnhardt finished a season-best 21st in the Daytona 500 but did not score a top-30 finish in his other starts for the team, which is in its first year running the full schedule.

“I want to thank StarCom Racing for the opportunity to pilot the No. 00 Chevrolet,” Earnhardt said in a statement. “We are working hard on our sponsorship package and long-term plans, which unfortunately means taking a pause behind the wheel to take care of that business. I can’t thank Robert Stanners and the VRX Simulators group enough for getting our season started, and continuing to support my racing career. We anticipate that there will be some exciting news to be shared within coming weeks.”

We want to thank @JEarnhardt1 for his time with SCR, we have mutually agreed to move in different directions at this time. It was a pleasure working together & we wish success to Jeffrey & his team. Stay tuned this week for more information on who will be at the wheel of the 00!

The seven-time Cup champion started 33rd in the Auto Club 400, but was able to do two things he hadn’t done through the first four races of the season.

He earned his first stage points of the year, finishing fifth in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2.

A six-time winner at Auto Club Speedway, Johnson also earned his first top 10 of the season. His ninth-place finish snapped a career-worst streak without a top 10 at 10 races.

His last top 10 was October at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson’s career-worst streak of races without a win now stands at 28.

“Each week we have been getting a little bit better,” Johnson said. “We are definitely not happy with where we are right now, but we are seeing the improvements, we have been seeing it internally. We are making the cars drive better and better and we are getting more competitive. So, a strong day for the Lowe’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. We are not where we want to be but we are getting closer every week.”

Johnson and his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates had to overcome starting from the rear Sunday.

“It was a pretty tough race from the start,” Larson said. “Obviously, Kevin and I had our issue there down the backstretch, just racing hard, side drafting each other for a few laps. I think he came down to maybe side draft down me, got in my right rear, it spun him pretty quick.”

Larson thought Harvick would be mad at him, even though Larson knew he wasn’t at fault. But Larson “was able to chill out some” after being told Harvick was taking the blame.

Larson went on to finish sixth in the Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2.

But Larson had to pit a second time during the Stage 2 caution for a vibration, giving up eighth place.

“I haven’t exactly seen what broke,” Larson said. “Sounded like brake duct or something fell in between the wheel. Yeah, I don’t know if that was something the pit crew guys hit and broke or whatever. I’m just glad I could feel it under that caution and was able to pit. That would have ruined our day, had I not.”

After fighting back to race among the leaders, Larson passed Kyle Busch for second with 19 laps to go. But Truex was roughly six seconds ahead.

“It was good to get all the way to second,” Larson said. “Would have liked to be one spot better, but we couldn’t even see Martin.”

Larson has finished in the top three in three of his five starts at Auto Club Speedway.

Larson has three top 10s and two top fives through five races. He is seventh in the points heading to Martinsville Speedway.

The No. 42 has been one of the few Chevrolet teams to consistently run up front with the new Camaro body since the Daytona 500. He was one of three Chevy drivers to finish in the top 10. Jimmie Johnson placed ninth and Austin Dillon finished 10th.

“It’s nothing I’ve found,” Larson said of the new body. “Our race team has a lot of smart people within our organization. Any time we had a rules change over the last three or four years, the one‑off weekends like Darlington or Michigan, our team would do a good job, we’d be fast those weekends.

“I think they just did a lot of homework on this new car. For whatever reason, we seem to be a little bit better than the other Chevy teams, which we were kind of last year, too.”

Larson was the only Chevrolet driver to win more than three races last season.

“I’ve been happy to see how we’ve started so far,” Larson said. “But we still have a little ways to go to win.”

Kyle Busch was ready to answer questions after finishing third Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said there weren’t many.

Now he wants to ensure there will be in the future, lobbying for an expansion of postrace driver media availability.

In a series of tweets after the Auto Club 400, the 2015 Cup champion explained he was parked at the end of the pits because of unsecured lug nuts on his No. 18 Toyota. He apparently was approached there only by a reporter from the Motor Racing Network.

Another race-another moment in needing to defend non postrace interview. NASCAR parked me at the end of pit road for loose lugs. I then walked pit road the distance back to the turn into the garage and only MRN asked. TV was elsewhere. They had a shot, skipped it.

Busch also wasn’t brought to the media center for the postrace news conference. NASCAR’s PR staff typically brings the winning team, runner-up and a third driver of its choosing that often is the best storyline (which is sometimes the third-place finisher).

What seriously needs to b determined is what’s the requirement post race. My suggestion is Top 5 required for TV interviews on pit road (this goes for TV too). TV can’t just skip a guy cause he’s not “a story” or not air the interview bc there wasn’t time to air it.

For the record (according to a Toyota release), here is what Busch responded when asked postrace about where Truex was beating him on the 2-mile oval: “Everywhere. Just thought we were closer than that but obviously not. We were right on top of (Truex) yesterday. The first run I thought we were really good and showed some strength but from there on out showed no strength.”

Armed with an apparently strong WiFi signal for his trip home to North Carolina, Busch was in a chatty mood on Twitter.